This is a limited series I hopefully plan to keep up for 12 months. My purpose of this series is to give readers who are interested in reselling as a side hustle a glimpse into numbers, and bits of piece of the nitty gritty of reselling. I have been doing this for 15 years part-time. It’s not really a guide, but more of a peek into some numbers & random thoughts on selling. Reselling, even though has its definite downs, has provided additional small income for my family. In general, I work on my own time, which is a huge plus. Especially since I can prioritize my time towards my children, one of who is autistic.
Gross Sales For Both eBay/Poshmark: $619.36
Fees: $100.46
Cost Of Goods (COGS): 254.17
Inventory Amount Beginning Of The Month: 512
Inventory Amount End Of The Month:518
This month I did some things to drive some sales. I didn’t want to do it but I added Best Offer back to my listings. I haven’t done this in years. In the past it would drive me crazy when so many low ballers offered when my prices are based on a generalized comp search. I added it back because let’s get real. I admit the price of used clothing is volatile. Brands that did great last year may not do great this year. Same goes with style.
Other Ways I Try To Drive Sales
I “sell similar” listings ending that day, & relisted items on poshmark. Some listings I edited the price, and I also change some titles. Did it help? Probably. Algorithm for selling platforms seem to focus on NEW content. Did it help? Maybe. Sales, and profit in general in retail are down everywhere.
I Sold More On eBay than Poshmark in January 2023
Between the two, it waffles which platform I’ve sold more on. Last year January I sold more on Poshmark. This time I sold more on eBay for 2023 January.
Poshmark has been supposedly favoring live auctions. That’s something I haven’t tried. For one thing, I’m not very good on the camera. Literally the only people who are willing to watch me are my children lol. Also to plan a live auction/selling really seems like you actually need to dress up, and plan an efficient schedule on what to show first to last. I actually never seen one but on my reselling IG account, the topic of live selling really is great for the already popular seller with high followers.
I just don’t see myself yet pursuing that route. I’m not even an active social media seller so my follower count doesn’t even reach 1000. I don’t plan to liquidate my inventory cheap, and my schedule in general is finicky so even setting a time is hard. To be honest with myself, the buyers I cater to are typically not super bargain buyers. They are not willing to watch me hold a show, when a post has all the info. Maybe some day but that chapter hasn’t happen.
If you have tried live selling/auctions how do you like it? I really should get a whatnot account….
Goal This Year Is Stock Up With Higher ASP Inventory
I need to get rid a bunch of inventory that hasn’t sold. I’m happy with about 70% of my inventory, but the other 30% I just need to cut my losses. Since I have such limited that to source, prep, list, inventory, etc I decided to stick to items that have a listing price of $30+. Some days, when my budget for sourcing is limited I’ll go higher.
I also need to stock up my store. I have considerably less items that what I had last year. This is due to me just not having enough time to spend on reselling. Many personal things has happened over the years , and I let my reselling business kind of die off. I hope to change that.
I’ll admit I struggled hard to put more time in reselling this January. I only listed 34 items. When I had more time in my reselling business I was listing 3x that. It’s hard when my time is shared with home-making, my children, and barely taking care of myself. My children are my priority, and they are both in different stages of their lives. I always have that guilt of not spending enough time with them.
